christmas card photo session

after many clicks of the camera, we still didn't come out with the perfect picture! that's ok though, we aren't perfect! the one above will do just fine! :) the ones below didn't make the card, but they are a good example of why they and ALL of the rest didn't make the cut! ;)

wyatt took this one, i am only sharing it because it is a decent photo of me (aside from the crazy hair) and shows off the baby bump (32.5 weeks)!

christmas cookies

yesterday the kids and i made christmas cookies and today we decorated them! not only was it fun to do, but even more fun to eat!! yum!

some of wyatt and claire's creations!

best doggers!!

this is not the best picture (at all), but i just love the memory! i had let lucy out this morning to go to the bathroom, then got distracted (it's hard to imagine, i know!) ...about 30 minutes later!! ...this is where i found the best doggers ever!! the yard isn't fenced, so she could have wondered off, but she just did her business and lay in the shade!

time to decorate!!!

i love (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!) christmas time!! as soon as we arrived home from thanksgiving at the Renfrows (yesterday early evening), we loaded back into matt's work truck to go and pick out our christmas tree!! yay! it was so fun to do with the kids, they loved running around between the trees! last night i worked on decorating some of the house and then today the kids and i have been working on decorating the tree!

"hum, where should i put this one?"

wyatt took this picture!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was so fun at the Renfrows. As always the food was so yummy, and if it weren't for this sweet babe sitting on my stomach, i would have eaten way too much. i felt super full, but i didn't (couldn't!!) eat as much as i normally do!

the only evidence that we were there is this picture of the kids watching a veggie tale with nana! oh well, one day, ONE day, i will be better about taking pictures...i hope!!

Camp-In: Treasure Hunt

This weekend was our annual camping trip with the Eakrights and Gwinns! as you will notice from the pictures, we didn't actually go camping this year, but we had a "camp-in" as i like to call it! years that there is a little one too young for the cold nights outside, we still get together and do some camping things (cook outside a little, roast marshmallows, etc.), but we stay in a house!

this year we stayed at Vati and Mutti's house and had a great time! Even though we were inside, we still wanted to do plenty of outdoor activities, especially since we knew the kids would love it. Jason and Andrea planned an awesome treasure hunt that took us all through the woods at vati and mutti's house. The kiddos had soooo much fun!

here wyatt and claire are looking at the treasure map and listening to Auntie Ree (that's what they call my sis) read the first clue.

the first clue sent everyone outside! they had to find a certain number of stars, which were on the cars (jason and andrea are always rhyming in our birthday cards and the treasure hunt was no different, it was full of catchy phrases!)

from the cars we went to the wood stove, i think they were looking for circles this time. claire found the next clue!

next we were off to the garden (which is surrounded by tons of wood piles!), here the kids not only found the next clue, but also found personalized hiking sticks! (auntie ree and uncle j are so creative!)

following the clue from the garden with their hiking sticks, we headed through the woods. When we came to this bridge we uncovered a snack...and maybe another clue, but i can't remember for sure?

wyatt: treasure hunter! :)

we eventually ended up at the pond where the kids found some bread had been left for them to feed the fish.

and then.... X marks the spot!!

grandpa holding emmett and his loot!

claire and wyatt excited about their treasures!

all 4 cuties sitting on the bench with their goodies!
(eli, emmett, claire and wyatt)

Camp-In: Hike

Later that day, after the treasure hunt, we went to Eno River State Park (the part of the park where Jason used to work) for a hike!

claire and eli checking out the river on the hike.

this may be hard to see, but i liked my prego shadow on the water below the swinging bridge
...i think that's the shadow of mutti and claire behind me!

claire taking a ride on daddy's shoulders!

and that is where my picture taking stopped for this weekend!! we also cooked hotdogs over a campfire for supper, then later that night roasted marshmallows, made smores and pudgie pies! then today we went to a park! it was a really fun weekend! :) looking forward to next year!

Giraffe and NCSU Cheerleader!

we weren't sure if we were going to do halloween or not this year, but then wyatt's preschool class had a party and they were to all wear their costumes, so we did! i thought i was so sweet that he wanted to be a giraffe! of all the other costumes (super heroes, etc.) he liked this cute giraffe costume we found at Old Navy for under $10!! the other awesome thing about that, is since it is gender neutral, it may get lots of use with his younger siblings and cousins!! :)

claire was a NC State cheerleader! this was something that was given to us by someone who had given it to matt's parents! we haven't gotten to use it yet, so i am so glad that the size fit her for this occasion! :)

wyatt was able to dress up like this 3 times and claire 2 times. aside from his preschool party, we went to a "trunk-or-treat" at our friends church later that same evening, then again tonight we went around to a few houses in the neighborhood. it was fun and a good lesson in how and when to say please and thank you!

our little giraffe and little cheerleader! :)

belly expansion!!

i don't think i have any pictures of my growing belly when i was prego with claire (sad day!!) but i will have at least ONE of this pregnancy!! and here it is...me at 26 weeks having a bad hair day...oh well, at least i tried!

cowboy and cowgirl!

Wyatt and Claire have really gotten into pretending recently, it's really fun (and funny) to watch! one of their good buddies had a birthday party in september, which is where they got these hats as one of the party favors. anyway, today they were pretending to be a cowboy and cowgirl and i just thought they were so cute.

Letter G!

oh letter G! like letter E, it was s l o w G o i n G!!

here are some of the things we did to study the letter G over the past couple of weeks:

• decorated a construction paper letter G with letter G stickers, and eventually stickers of items that start with the letter G


• practiced writing the letter G

• built a 3-D Giraffe puzzle and colored a picture of one



• made Grocery Cards (we clipped items out of coupons/grocery store ads, pasted them on note cards and "wala", our own grocery card (large scale) memory game!)

• field trip to the Grocery store (which was easy since we needed to go anyway!)

• had a whole Gaggle of Geese visit us on the Golf hole we live on! (Great timing!)

cousin time!

Matt has been out of town part of this week, so my sis and her boys came to hang out with us for a couple of days! my terrible streak of not taking pictures tried to continue, and in some ways it prevailed, since i only have these two pics from their time here! this was cute though, claire wanted to hold her cute baby cousin emmett (4 months) and as things tend to go in our family, when one does, the other must also do! :)

church search

we are still church searching in our new town. because of this we've had a couple of sundays where we just have our own church at home. we've done a sunday school lesson with the kids on these occasions. the one today taught about how God is our Shepherd and we are his sheep.

Wy's 1st Day of Preschool!

Being the slack photo taker that i am, i have no pictures of this picture worthy day: Wyatt's first day of preschool!! He was hesitant at first, but he seemed to have fun! yay!

It will also be interesting as claire and i figure out what to do during these 3 hours he's in school!

Lucy turns 6!

Happy Birthday to the best doggers in the whole wide world! :)

eagerly awaiting her birthday cupcake!

oh glorious cupcake!!

...3 seconds later!!!

Beach Trip: Clean up and head out….

As always, the last day seem to get creep up on us way too fast! we had a awesome trip and hope that we can do it again in the future! here are some pictures of our super fun beach house!

thanks jason and hollie for doing great reasearch and finding this place!
(you can barely see me, but i'm standing on the porch! :))

the back yard! ;) matt was sceptical about why you would want to have a pool when you were already AT the beach, but it was awesome (and he agrees!)! we could be swimming all day if we wanted to and it was also nice because for the little kiddos on days when the ocean was too rough for them.

Beach Trip: Day 6 – beach day!

This was our last day on the beach! I again forgot my camera (or forgot to use it…either is likely!)!

Beach Trip: Day 5 – Putt-Putt!

This was the Gwinn’s last day. When they were ready to head out, we all followed them into Nags Head to check out the shops. We were kind of hoping to play putt-putt at some point, so once we departed from the Gwinns, we went to get some supper then searched out a neat putt-putt place. The one we found was particularly neat because it had a train that you rode to the first hole, which the kids (esp. wyatt) loved!

wyatt and abby teaing off at the same time!

claire's turn?

action shot

here's a cute video of the kiddos playing...at least, i think they are...matt seems confused too! :)